Toshiba Canvio Home NAS a Good Way to Build Local Cloud

By Kevin Parrish
published

Here's a good way to build a local cloud.

Now that the entire family is online thanks to smartphones, tablets, notebooks and so on, every home should have a central solution for storing music, pictures, video files, documents – you name it. The solution should be accessible from anywhere through easy-to-use software so that even impatient teens can deposit and go as they please.

Toshiba is now offering such solutions that, according to the company, address past complications of storing files. Called the Canvio Home Backup and Share, the device is a network attached storage (NAS) hub providing either 2 TB or 3 TB of storage, depending on your budget. The device is accompanied by easy-to-install and easy-to-use software so that anyone can set up the NAS on the local network.

"Set-up is a no-brainer for anyone with basic knowledge of computer hardware and software. Then, once it's up and running, you and your community of users will have no trouble logging in and finding the files and other content you want, thanks to a single application with a clear menu and intuitive interface," reads the product sheet.

Users can access the files from anywhere, whether it's in the home or away on a family trip. When at home, Toshiba's Canvio NAS allows users to stream video and music to DNLA-compliant devices, Windows PCs, Mac computers, iPhone and iPad mobile digital devices and Android-based smartphones and tablets.

Toshiba's Canvio Home provides only one hard drive bay, a Gigabit Ethernet interface, and a USB 2.0 port for adding even more files to share. For backing up files from Apple devices, Time Machine will be used. For Windows and Android-based devices, the included software will do image-based backups or incremental backups.

"It is so much more than just a box to drop your files in. This is safe, private storage that you can share," says Maciek Brzeski, vice president of product marketing and development, Branded Storage Products, Toshiba Digital Products Division.

Western Digital launched a similar product back in October 2013: the My Cloud family of personal cloud solutions. Like the Canvio Home product, WD's My Cloud also provides both local and remote access to files. Users can even transfer files from Dropbox and other public cloud accounts using WD's My Cloud mobile app.

On the pricing front, WD is charging $149.99 USD for 2 TB, $179.99 USD for 3 TB and $249.99 USD for 4 TB. Toshiba is a bit pricier than WD, charging $199.99 USD for the 2 TB model and $259.99 USD for the 3 TB model.

For more information about the Canvio Home Backup & Share products, the 2 TB version is listed here, and the 3 TB version is listed here.

Kevin Parrish
6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • razor512
    I currently use one, it works really well, just don't use the software that it comes with, it is the reason why the reviews are horrible. the software sucks, it does not do anything that windows cannot already do. The windows backup is lightyears better than the canvio backup software, the device has all of the standard sharing features using FTP, samba, and a few other methods for accessing the shares locally and remotely.If you want to avoid a lot of pain, when you get the device, delete the software that it comes with, then first step, head to \\the NAS IP address (for example, \\192.168.1.50 ) on your file explorer.Then map share as a network drive. You are now done setting the device up, it is ready to use as a basic NAS.You can then set up encrypted FTP for remote access.It also has DLNA and a bunch of other features, basically 100% no need to use the canvio software.
    Reply
  • amk-aka-Phantom
    The solution should be accessible from anywhere through easy-to-use software so that even impatient teens can deposit and go as they please.
    "Impatient teens" usually set this stuff up. It's adults who can't figure shit out.Anyhow, this solution is pure garbage right here. No USB 3.0? Puh-leeeease, it's 2014. I built my own NAS running Windows 7 - not only it's a fully capable NAS but also allows me to do a lot of other things. In fact it's a perfectly fine office PC, which I used while my main one was broken - 32 GB SSD (SanDisk ReadyCache) as an OS drive, 1.5 TB WD Green (ripped out of its external enclosure) for storage, and Asus E45M1-I Deluxe providing USB 3.0 and even extra Wi-Fi hotspot for my room specifically for accelerated media streaming. Yes, it cost me more than $150, but I can add up to, I think, 3 more drives (CM Elite 120 case), it can be used as a real PC and I think it's worth the extra cost. One could also use Linux to cut the cost down.But if you really want just a dumb NAS, at least do yourself a favor and get one with USB 3.0. Like the WD mentioned in the article. Plus with WD NAS you know you've got WD drives, which are hands down the best hard drives left on the market.
    Reply
  • razor512
    The solution should be accessible from anywhere through easy-to-use software so that even impatient teens can deposit and go as they please.
    "Impatient teens" usually set this stuff up. It's adults who can't figure shit out.Anyhow, this solution is pure garbage right here. No USB 3.0? Puh-leeeease, it's 2014. I built my own NAS running Windows 7 - not only it's a fully capable NAS but also allows me to do a lot of other things. In fact it's a perfectly fine office PC, which I used while my main one was broken - 32 GB SSD (SanDisk ReadyCache) as an OS drive, 1.5 TB WD Green (ripped out of its external enclosure) for storage, and Asus E45M1-I Deluxe providing USB 3.0 and even extra Wi-Fi hotspot for my room specifically for accelerated media streaming. Yes, it cost me more than $150, but I can add up to, I think, 3 more drives (CM Elite 120 case), it can be used as a real PC and I think it's worth the extra cost. One could also use Linux to cut the cost down.But if you really want just a dumb NAS, at least do yourself a favor and get one with USB 3.0. Like the WD mentioned in the article. Plus with WD NAS you know you've got WD drives, which are hands down the best hard drives left on the market.
    SATA on these SOC's are hardware accelerated, so the NAS is able to give 35-40MB/s writes, and 50-60MB/s reads, but once you throw in USB, then there is no hardware acceleration, and with the slow CPU, it wont even make it to 20MB/s so it will just add cost with no benefit by adding a USB 3 controller.(If you want high performance external expansion with out having to throw in a high end SOC, you need to use SATA, or esata (this is why the next linksys router will use it, it will use a NAS style SOC which has native support, and thuis will not have as much of a CPU bottleneck, (this is also why routers such as the WNDR4700 can get 40MB/s writes, and nearly 90MB/s reads on a crappy single core 1GHz low power CPUConsider the USB port being there as a random extra simply because the SOC had a build in USB 2 controller, so all they needed to do was run the traces and solder in a port.The SOC has physical pins for 2 SATA ports, 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 SD card port, 1PCI-e x1 slot, and an audio output.
    Reply
  • razor512
    It seems that the one on this page is a newer version, hopefully they improved the performance. Many other sites are reporting this version to have a USB 3.0 port.
    Reply
  • Christopher1
    I currently use one, it works really well, just don't use the software that it comes with, it is the reason why the reviews are horrible. the software sucks, it does not do anything that windows cannot already do. The windows backup is lightyears better than the canvio backup software, the device has all of the standard sharing features using FTP, samba, and a few other methods for accessing the shares locally and remotely.If you want to avoid a lot of pain, when you get the device, delete the software that it comes with, then first step, head to \\the NAS IP address (for example, \\192.168.1.50 ) on your file explorer.Then map share as a network drive. You are now done setting the device up, it is ready to use as a basic NAS.You can then set up encrypted FTP for remote access.It also has DLNA and a bunch of other features, basically 100% no need to use the canvio software.
    Wow, the software is that bad? Hmm..... anyone have a link to someone who has reviewed just the software and not the NAS, pointing out the failures?
    Reply
  • razor512
    Nothing that focuses purely on the NAS, they all seem to go by the setup guide, and review that way. the problem is that when you do that, it hides any signs of ftp and samba functionality, it forces you into using the crappy canvio home software which is horrible screen space inefficient, and lacks many basic controls.

    for example http://www.storagereview.com/toshiba_canvio_personal_cloud_hard_drive_review

    because of the way the software works, it tried to load previews for all items, and since it does it in a DLNA style, if you have a large collection of videos, music, and pictures, the program will get very sluggish, all while displaying only a hand full of items at a time, thus making the management of a large library, insanely annoying.

    all of the canvio home functionality in available natively in windows explorer, and sooooooooooo much more
    overall,
    Reply